The two poems under consideration both deal with a common theme: family relationships and the human condition. Both poems are the reflections of grown children recalling what they learned from a parent when they were young. In ôThe Secret Heartö by Robert P. Tristram Coffin, the man reflects on insights he gained about his fatherÆs love, and in Evelyn Tooley HuntÆs ôMy Mother Taught Me Purple,ö the woman reflects on the fact that her mother was not a role model for what she taught her daughter.
Comprised of three, four-line stanzas, ôMy Mother Taught Me Purpleö uses the symbolism of two colors to express its thoughts. The two colors are the drab, gloomy, colorless gray, and the majestic, luxuriant, vibrant purple. The poemÆs setting is a poor neighborhood made up of monotonous tenement buildings. The impression of the mother is of someone who has been beaten down by the tedium and hardship of her life: ôWash-gray was her circle/The tenement her orbitö (lines 3-4). In spite of her dull life, the mother has a sense of beauty, of a life that is golden and so she tries to teach her daughter ôpurple,ö ôAlthough she never wore itö (line 2). What she is trying to do is teach her daughter that beauty exists in spite of their circumstances. Purple symbolizes the motherÆs vision of beauty while ôwash-grayö symbolizes the motherÆs actual life. Although the mother attempts to pass down the ideals of beauty and richness of life, she ultimately fails. She herself could not achieve it: ôMy mother reached for beauty/And for its lack she diedö (lines 9-10). The author seems to express a combination of regret and resentment. She regrets that her mother died for lack of beauty, and she resents that her mother ôwho knew so much of duty/She could not teach me prideö (lines 11-12). There is a bittersweet feeling to this poem, much more so than in CoffinÆs poem.
ôThe Secret Heartö is a beautiful expression of perfect l...